


Better Than Farmville

by unseenbox



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: College, F/M, Fluff, meet cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-02
Updated: 2015-10-02
Packaged: 2018-04-24 12:14:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4919227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unseenbox/pseuds/unseenbox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arriving ten minutes early for class has its perks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Better Than Farmville

“Is this Writer’s Comp?” After mixing up the room number for Sociology -- 7’s and 1’s can look a lot alike -- Ashley wasn’t taking any chances. In her attempt to avoid being late, it seemed like she overdid it and arrived ten minutes early, since there were only maybe five people in the room. Three of them must have wanted to beat the rush and stake a claim on the outlets, as they already had their laptops up and ready to go. Another listened to music loud enough to escape their headphones. Gaga, eh? The last one seemed glued to their smartphone, and hunched over their desk to read twitter updates or something.

“Huh?” He blinked out of his social media induced trance. Needed to adjust his glasses, too, so it must’ve been a pretty serious one. “Sorry, what was that? I was kinda…” he made a seesaw motion with his hand, “You know, being brainwashed by our Google overlords.” 

She didn’t know, but it didn’t seem worth pointing out. To be honest, she was still a little surprised he answered her at all. If everyone didn’t just ignore her, she figured one of the laptop owners would cave first. Still, an answer was an answer, so she shrugged her metaphorical shoulders and moved on. She checked the schedule taped to her notebook and repeated the question, a little louder. “I’m looking for Writer’s Comp?”

“Oh! Uh, yeah, you’re in the right place.” His phone buzzed, so he turned his attention back to it. Ashley stood in the doorway and glanced around the classroom. Where should she sit? The tables were arranged in a sloppy U shape. If she sat in the center, she’d probably get called on more. Spokes, those were the safety option. Plenty of empty seats to choose from, too, especially on the left, since it lacked outlets. She could sit alone, she thought. The class would fill up soon, so it wouldn’t even be long. Her grip tightened around her notebook, and then she walked over to where the smartphone addict sat.

“Is anybody sitting here?” Her hand hovered on the chair next to him. He looked twice, evidently not believing what he saw the first time around, but he started shuffling his books around to make room.

“No, you’re fine, go ahead.” His chair screeched across the linoleum as he moved it, and she flinched. Apparently he noticed, because he said, “Guess the maintenance budget’s been slashed again.” She rolled her eyes but sat down anyway. Lord, what was she getting herself into?

“Did they even have one to begin with?” she asked as she put her notebook down.

“Well, that’s what _they_ want you to think.”

“They being the… school administrators?” He’s joking, right? She didn’t miss that? She pushed her beanie up from where it slid, like seeing better would help. 

“Oh, yeah, it’s all a big scheme to get more funding for football.” This time, he didn’t even look up from his phone as he spoke.

“Who are you talking to?” Oh, shit, she shouldn’t have said that. A bit mortified, she added, “Sorry, it’s just-- I saw your phone and I couldn’t help it. You, uh, you really don’t have to answer.” She slumped in her chair onto the table. Maybe if she tried hard enough, she could push through until she hit China.

“Hey, hey, it’s-- it’s fine, really.” He looked slightly red faced, although it might’ve been from the extra two layers he was wearing. Didn’t he know it was still August? Any fashion complaints had to wait, though, because he shrugged and answered, “Uh, but that’d be Josh and his usual assortment of soul destroying links.” He kept right on going, “He’s been my friend since… what, third grade? But everything changed when he discovered 4chan…”

“I think I’m getting the picture. Something something two girls, one cup?” Shudder. Never click the links, Ashley. She learned that the hard way.

“Oh, god no. That’d be way too tame for him. He takes his shock videos very seriously.” He nodded as if sharing some great secret. After a moment, and looking a little more solemn, he added, “He’s not as bad as his internet history makes him sound, I promise. He’s just… always trying to be the life of the party. Or, uh, sitting around waiting for class to start, in this case.”

Speaking of which, with about five minutes to go, the seats were starting to fill up. It just took looking up again for Ashley to notice. “At least we’re not late.” She shrugged, and kept talking as she flipped her notebook open. “I missed, I don’t know, ten minutes of my first class here and I had to run the entire way and it was such a disaster.” She sighed. “So I’m not off to a great start.”

“Well, maybe being late wasn’t so bad. And anyway, it could turn out okay in the end.”

“Huh?” She stopped midway through pulling a pencil out of her bag.

He shrugged, looking up at the clock. “I mean, what if you were early for this class because you were late to the other one? And then… I don’t know, you’d get stuck with a broken chair all semester because all the good ones got taken or something.” He shrugged. “And anyway, it’s just the first day, right? So, you know, maybe tomorrow’ll go better.”

“Oh.” She smiled a little as she scribbled onto the paper, and she tried to school her expression back to neutral. Wasn’t having much luck with it, though. “Well, I’ll try not to worry about it anymore. Today, anyway.” She tapped her pencil against the page, and with about two minutes left on the clock, she said, “My name’s Ashley, by the way.”

He dragged himself back up from the phone again, his grin a little surprised around the edges. “Uh, Chris, that’s me.” 

Chris had a point. Things were looking up already.


End file.
